The Grey NATO – 182 – Why Quartz Rocks

Published on Thu, 24 Feb 2022 07:00:17 -0500

Synopsis

This episode is a discussion about quartz watches. The hosts talk about the appeal of quartz watches being grab-and-go, low maintenance, and providing useful functions like timers, alarms, etc. They highlight quartz watches from brands like Casio, Seiko, Grand Seiko, Cartier, Longines, Hamilton, Citizen, CWC, Marathon, and more across different price points and styles. They discuss vintage quartz watches from the 80s/90s as well as modern affordable and luxury quartz pieces. The overall perspective is that quartz watches offer simplicity, durability and functionality that is appealing to watch enthusiasts.

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Transcript

Speaker
Jason	Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 182, and it's proudly brought to you by the recently formed TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Jason, how are we doing? Oh, I'm doing pretty well here.
James	It's a A gray and snowy day here. It feels like the past, uh, similar to the last 20 weeks or so that we've, we've been talking, but, uh, yeah, the end, the end of winter is coming as we've been discussing. It is. Yeah. Speaking of winter, you had a really wintry weekend, right? I mean, you sent me a photo of some heavy snow.
Jason	Yeah. So we, we talked about it on the, maybe even the last two episodes that I was planning to do some winter camping up on my cottage property with a friend of mine who does a lot of, uh, winter camping, backcountry winter camping. Yeah. And, uh, it turns out we, we got really lucky by deciding to do the first outing on the cottage property because the, uh, the first day that we went up was pretty cold. Like it was about negative 15 before the wind. And then it was like insane wind and blowing snow so much so that there would have been no way to put up a tent unless you were in a very sheltered area. Yeah. So we considered our options when, you know, when my friends first showed up, they hadn't been to the cottage before they were kind of thinking like, Oh, we might genuinely need to like consider a hotel or going back home for a day and coming back tomorrow. And they got there. I'm like, look, it's a cabin. Like we can absolutely just hang out in the cabin. It's going to be freezing cold in there, but we have power. We could turn on a couple of heaters and we already had all the cold weather gear. Right. Yeah. Right. So this was just a high, I guess you could call it a higher end tent. I don't know. Uh, at this point, Uh, so we ended up staying in the, in the cabin for the weekend and I just had a lovely time. It was really nice to have something to do that wasn't here in Toronto or in my office or my bedroom, which are kind of the two places I live. Yeah, we, uh, we did some really fun snowshoeing and started to scope out some areas that might work for a future outing that are back in the woods. Oh, wow. Um, a little bit, a little bit difficult to do from a car. You'd need a sled and, uh, um, and as long as it doesn't melt, cause technically you'd be on a swamp back there. But it's very sheltered. It's really beautiful. I took some photos. If I can process one in time, one or two in time, I'll include them in the show notes. I took a handful of photos or just watch my Instagram. I'm sure I'll put up a little set once I get a chance to pull the images off the M10. Yeah, so some snowshoeing and kind of kicked around and hung out and had fires. We went to a local brewery and had a couple of beers and some nice food. It was a really kind of like well-rounded weekend of like outside with some general like healthy discomfort between the cold and some exercise. Yeah. And then, uh, just like low key evenings hanging out, eating good food and, and getting to reconnect with some friends. So it was a, it was a real treat to, uh, to get a chance to do that. And I'm, I'm keen to do it again really soon.
James	Did you get a chance to use the, like the sleeping bags and stuff?
Jason	Did you put those on the bed or did you put it on the floor or what did you do right on the floor? Oh, nice. Um, right on the floor. I couldn't be more impressed by the sleeping pad, especially, huh? You know, I've, I've owned, $30 sleeping pads from Amazon that are okay for the summer to get you off the ground. Basically, they have no insulated value. And then I've had a, I've had Therm-a-Rest before, like more packable, really small, kind of their mid range stuff. And this is a, these X-Therms, Neo Air X-Therm, just, I'm just literally blown away. It was so warm that if you rolled over at night and touched the pad, it felt like the pad was heated.
Unknown	Huh. Wow.
James	So it absorbs your body heat and kind of traps it or?
Jason	Absolutely. Yeah. So, um, we were on a cold floor with a, with a basement below us. So no, no real insulation for the floor itself. Yeah. So not as cold as maybe being on snow necessarily, but I don't think that far off. I mean, I think the room was maybe negative four or five Celsius when we got there. Yeah. Um, and then we started putting a little bit of heat into it and it got a little bit better, but it took almost all of the weekend before the room was like, you couldn't see your breath. Oh wow. The sleeping bag was super comfortable, worked really well. Yeah. I'm so impressed. I mean, a warm sleeping bag is not that surprising, but I'm blown away by the, by the mat.
Unknown	Huh?
Jason	Oh, that's great.
James	Wow. Yeah. I mean, it's fun. You know, sometimes you, you know, the, the best laid plans when they go a little awry because of weather or whatever else, it's like you end up having more fun, even though if it's this really ad libbed kind of Adventure. And that's what it sounds like. That's cool.
Jason	And I mean, that's kind of the cheat code of having that cottage property is like you have so many options. You're 10 minutes from a town. So if we didn't, you know, we forgot eggs. Yeah. Just go get eggs. It's not quite as dire as, as trekking 15 kilometers into some back country area and then realizing you forgot something or that the weather's significantly worse than you expected. Yeah. And, and, and we had a chance to kind of survey the property and kind of see what the condition was in the winter. and be able to plan you know what you do if you wanted to go a little further out or even just somewhere else as we kind of learn our way through this because it's a whole different sort of style of camping yeah it's very gear intensive and there's no like I'm sure people do this minimally I'm sure that's a whole point of doing it at some level but the the other option is you know it's sleds and snowshoes and dragging a lot of stuff out and my friends have a hot tent and all that kind of stuff so there's lots of options and different ways to approach it Yeah. And I would encourage anyone who can, um, who can figure out a way to sleep warm enough that you're not in danger. I don't think you have to spend $350 or whatever on a, on an air mattress. It just helps. Yeah. Uh, but if you can find a way to sleep warm, it really opens up what your options are for appreciating the winter, especially if you're like me and like, kind of don't care about winter that much.
James	Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's great. I'm glad you got out. I mean, do you think you'll get out again this winter yet?
Jason	Maybe I'd like to go back out in two weeks time. Yeah. Like in two, in two weekends time, whether, whether we just go back up and kind of do the same thing again, or we, we go in and try and set up a campsite and do the rest of it. We'll see. It just kind of depends on how long things stay cold because the, some of the outlying forest areas at my cottage are all kind of swampy. So if it's cold, it's awesome. Yeah. If it, if it starts to thaw out, then you have to move back into a more, solidified sort of forest environment. Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Oh, that's terrible. You have, how has your last week been?
James	Oh, it's been a mixed bag. You know, Ghashani was, was on a lovely vacation with some friends. She flew down to Arizona for a few days to visit with some friends and they rented a house and did a bunch of hiking and made me very jealous by, um, you know, hiking in the mountains and the desert down there when it was a reasonably warm weather and, uh, made me think that, um, you know, we need to do more of that maybe in, in future winters because it's, uh, there are direct flights and it's fairly easy to do. But on my end, I, I just kind of hunkered down here. It was, um, it was a good chance to kind of catch up on some, some old favorite movies. I rewatched, uh, the secret life of Walter Mitty, which is one of my favorites. And, uh, and then I watched the rescue twice. Um, I had seen it once, but then I watched it myself and then I went and spent a night at my, my parents' house and they hadn't seen it. So we streamed that and they loved it too. And, I'm just, every time I watch the movie, I'm like almost brought to tears at the end. And I just, I love those guys that are in it. And it was so great to, to kind of just sink into it again a couple of more times. And, and then I did a little bit of cooking. Um, you know, I, I, this past winter I, I took it upon myself to make orange marmalade from scratch and then like do some canning.
Unknown	Oh, okay.
James	And so I had a bunch of rhubarb in the freezer from last summer, um, already cut up. So I made some strawberry rhubarb jam and, and made a few jars of that. So that was kind of fun. It kind of keeps me busy, you know, idle hands and all that.
Jason	So. Sounds like something Preniky would have put on his flapjacks. Yeah, there we go. Yeah. Yeah. He always had, what was it? It was blueberries a lot, right? Oh yeah. Right. Right. And then he would trade, he was trading blueberries for something else. Maybe strawberry preserves, something like that. Right. I remember at least at one point he's quite, he's quite thrilled about it.
James	Well, my goal now is to plant some like raspberry bushes or something in our garden this summer and then try to do something next winter. Um, With, with what we harvest. But, uh, and then other than that, I, you know, I had high hopes. The shop that has the old series three Land Rover and has since November said it was ready. And I went to pick it up. A friend of mine drove me out there and, and I got about two miles from the shop and I heard the same really horrible howling noise coming from the driveline that told me that it wasn't, wasn't quite ready. So we did a U-turn and went back and I took the owner of the place for a test drive and he finally heard it. And so I left it there again, which. You know, I, it'd be nice to have back, but looking out the window today at the weather, you know, I don't have a lot of parking space or big garage or anything. So it sits outside anyway. So I'm like, you know, just, just keep it, just, you know, get it done, try to break it, fix it. Um, so we'll see where that comes from, but that's, uh, that's to be continued.
Jason	Yeah. I, you know, there's that joke in the, in the car community when you get into project cars, uh, that you can always have more than your parking spot. Cause they're never going to be at your house anyway. Yeah. But, uh, that's an unfair joke for the Land Rover, which has been quite a reliable thing, especially given its age for you.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	But sometimes they can take a long time to fix, especially if the shop is busy. Right. As a lot of these guys are these days.
James	Yeah. And it's, it's one of these kind of investigative, uh, projects where they're going to have to probably take some stuff apart and like kind of just dig into it. And you know what, it's, it is a friend of mine jokes. It's it's good winter storage. Um, since we have three vehicles, uh, and really only two parking spaces off the street. So I'm, I'm, I'm okay with that.
Jason	That's it from my end. One update before we get to risk check and watch talk. If you're a supporter, now is the time. This comes out on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, our first Q&A will launch. The email is going to have more specific instructions because I think that's easier than me explaining how different RSS feeds work in audio. It didn't work out that well last time. I think I confused more people than I helped. So watch your inbox. You're going to get an email. It'll have the embedded player so you can play it right there. Or there'll be what looks like a website address, a URL, and you can take that URL and add it into your podcast app of choice. And that's going to give you the private feed. So you can't find this on iTunes or Spotify. Your options are either listening to the Q&As in the in the standard like Substack email or on Substack if you're a supporter or integrating this feed, which then replaces the old feed. It has all five episodes a month in it. So we'll have a public feed with four episodes. If you're a supporter, we'll have a private feed with the five episodes.
James	That's great. And just to allay any fears or confusion or preempt any confusion, I'm on the lower tech end of the spectrum. So I think before we go live with this, James, I can be a good guinea pig. You can send me the link and I'll try to do it myself. See if it all makes sense and we'll make sure it works for everybody.
Jason	Yeah, I'd expect some, there'll be some kind of growing pains with this, but you won't lose any episodes. There, there, there's a couple of different ways to listen to it. And if you have any trouble with it, of course we remain available even for tech support. The great NATO at gmail.com. Let me know. Happy to, uh, to sort that out. Um, but that's, uh, I think that kind of wraps up, uh, wraps up chit chat. I'm looking forward to the Q and a, we're going to record it next. And I've been through the questions and they're, they're great. So if you're, um, if you're not on the supporter list and you want to check out the Q and a, swingbythegrenado.com for more details. Uh, Jason, you want to do some risk check?
James	Yeah, mine's pretty easy. I'm, I'm, I'm a little boring. I went back to the white dialed Seamaster, uh, after, after a week away with the tourniquet Rayville, um, which Kashani then took to Arizona to where, um, I've got it back on the rubber strap, but I did, um, I did pick up something interesting for it that people might be interested in. I, Um, I found out that Omega makes, uh, you know, the mesh or the Milanese bracelet that came on the no time to die, uh, titanium Seamaster. Um, they, they, it turns out they make a steel version of that. And so I got it through a local Omega dealer. They, they got it in and I put it on the watch and it's the same bracelet. It's just that it's steel. So it's obviously a little heavier. It's, it's, it's quite comfortable. Um, my only issue with it is, is that, uh, There's a fair amount of overlapping mesh, you know, the end of the kind of the tail of the bracelet that feeds through and then you clip it into the corresponding hole to fit your wrist and the leftover tail kind of rides on the inside of the clasp against your skin, which isn't uncomfortable. It's just a lot of extra kind of mesh sitting in there. So that's the one thing that, that I guess if I had a complaint about it, that would be it, but it sure looks good on the watch. I mean, I have never been, a mesh bracelet guy, but I, I do think it suits this watch quite well. It dresses it up a bit. And, uh, you know, I mean, it's just, uh, it's just such a different look than, than the rubber or NATO or anything like that.
Jason	Yeah. I mean, I, I guess I, I probably am significantly bigger mesh nerd than you are down the road on a few different price points. Yeah. And there's even a couple of brands I really wish would make one, like what the, well, like what Omega's done. Like I did one, I didn't even realize they decided to do a, to do a steel version of the no time to die mesh. That's awesome. Yeah. And that really opens up the options because the metal wouldn't quite have matched, right? A titanium is a little darker, a little more brown, a little bit more earthy in color. Yeah. So I think that's, that's awesome. And I'm still kind of hunting. I I'm on the fence that, you know, I, I bought a cheap one off of Amazon a while back for the S 302 and it was okay. I found that after a few days of wearing it, it just kind of rubbed my wrist the wrong way, if that makes any sense. Yeah. Maybe that's too vague. Uh, if I can think of a better way of explaining it, I will at some point, but it just wasn't, it was perfectly comfortable for a day. Maybe I'm just used to the fact that I can wear a NATO for like a month on end without even really noticing the way it touches the bone on my wrist or any of that kind of stuff. And I'm so much more picky when it comes to bracelets.
James	Yeah. Yeah. Well, rumor has it, I was reading about this bracelet on, on a forum and somebody said that, um, do you know this brand Staib, S T A I B?
Jason	By name, yeah, this is a German bracelet manufacturer.
James	I think it's a German bracelet manufacturer. Rumor has it they make this for Omega. So, you know, I have never owned another mesh bracelet. And if this is a stabe, that might be a good way to go. And I'm sure it would be far cheaper than getting the Omega branded version if they make a similar one.
Jason	Yeah, maybe I need to buy like a handful of 20 millimeter mesh and do a mesh off for the sub stack. That might be kind of a fun little story. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's super. Uh, in on, on my side, I'm wearing a watch that you sent me. So we were chatting on Slack and I said that I was kind of short, a genuinely warm, like very warm pair of gloves. Oh yeah. And I was looking at going to Eddie Bauer and spending, you know, a hundred, $150 on, on something from their, uh, first ascent line. And you said, Oh, I really liked these ones that they just sold the hardware store near my house. Yeah. The brand is Wells Lamont. It's a big 3M mitt with individual finger cutouts inside. Yeah. And you sent me a pair of those. And because you're shipping something anyways, inside one of them, you tucked a CWC dive watch, the 1983 Royal Marine Divers reissue. Yeah. And I put it on when that arrived, maybe a week ago now, right? Yeah. I have not taken this watch off. I sleep with it on. Oh, that's awesome. I really, really like this watch. It feels crazy legit. I've really found that the mix of the super matte dial and then the polished case and the glassiness of the bezel, which is luminous, really gives it a feeling that it's from 1983. Yeah. Yeah. And I really like it. I've got it. I've worn it on a few different straps, but it's on a gray NATO now on a TGN gray NATO. And I, I just absolutely adore it. It's super legible. The loom is really good. I think, I bet you, if I have any complaint at all, it's that the bezel is a little bit tough to grip, not on like a two, two, five, four. It's just kind of smooth. And if your hands are like slippery, or if you've been out, like I was out shoveling for a while and it wasn't that cold. So it was, I was, you know, working up a bit of a sweat and my hands were a little sweaty. And I wanted to go and turn the bezel to time how long a certain part of my sidewalk was going to take. And I was just fighting with it. It's not bad. It's just it doesn't really work that well if you or the watch are kind of wet or slippery or anything like that. Yeah.
James	Yeah. I've noticed that too. I think if the profile were just even a hair taller, you could get a little more purchase on it. But yeah, the fact that it sits pretty tight to the case, it does make it a little hard to grip. But I love that. That's the That's the version, well, as well as their 1980 reissue, which is an automatic, um, that has that acrylic bezel insert that sort of mimics the Bakelite that, that used to be on the watch. And I, I love, I think that's my kind of my favorite look. It's sort of similar to what the Synchron Military has. It's, it's just has such a retro feel to it. I just love that look.
Jason	That's a great watch. The funny thing is, is, you know, CWC doesn't even show the, the specific, measurements of the watch on the website. It just says 45 millimeters wide, but that includes the crown. Oh yeah. So for anyone listening, who's checked that out and was like, I don't, I don't want a 45 millimeter dive watch. It's a hair under 41 case to case size, but you get a big crown guard and a crown, right? It's not, it's not super thick. I think this one's 11 millimeters thick. A lug to lug is I can have my calipers right here. I can lug to lug is right on 46 and a half.
James	Oh, very reasonable ish.
Jason	Yeah. So super wearable, definitely wears like a 41, 42 millimeter, like a Seamaster or something in that zone. Yeah. Right. And obviously these share some, some ancestral DNA with, um, with various Seamaster designs that were made for, uh, the MOD and, uh, yeah, I'm, I love it. I love the big quartz, especially for today's topic, you know, like big capital letter. It's very proud to be quartz. I love the loom. Yeah. I love a luminous bezel always. Yeah. Uh, and, and I like, you know, little things. If you're, if you're going to go in for a quartz watch, especially one that isn't, you know, like a hundred dollars or whatever, like the seconds hand lines up with the markers. It wouldn't really bother me if it didn't. Yeah. But if I'm just sitting staring at the watch, it's kind of nice. You know what I mean? Yeah.
James	Yeah. And to me, that, that case shape is one of my top, probably top five case shapes, you know, along with something like a Doxa or something, but that, that swoopy kind of the way it integrates into the, into the crown guards. It's just, it's just such a beautiful, designed for something that was designed to a military spec. Um, and a lot of watches kind of had cases like that. There were old Hoyers and a bunch of other stuff, but, uh, yeah, that's a cool watch. I'm glad you're liking it. Um, the only quibble, I guess for some people is that it only takes a NATO. I guess it's like the Tudor FXD. I mean, you can only wear pass through straps on it.
Jason	Are the spring bars fixed on this one?
James	They are. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't even looked. Yeah. They're welded in. Yeah.
Jason	Oh yeah, look at that. Yeah. Well, it certainly clearly isn't going to bother me. I guess I had in my mind, I had considered putting it on like a rubber, but I guess I'll throw it on one of those Bonetto Centurini, the Zulu Diver rubber Nados. Yeah, no, I'm thrilled. Thanks so much for sending it. It's a nice piece and it's something I've, you know, you've been talking about CWC for so long. It just seems like a crucial brand that was like a big black hole in my experience. So it's fun to get a chance to have one and to take it out into the wild like we did this past weekend. And I've been doing lots of shoveling. You can really, you know, kind of beat on the watch like this as much as I'm willing to say beat on my own body. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It works out well. Thank you.
James	Yeah. Well, and what a great segue into our main topic. I mean, this is, as it says on the tin or on the dial in that case, it's a, it's all about quartz.
Jason	You know, we, we've seen this option come up many times when we talk about quartz watches. Usually if we talk about them in a vacuum, the comments come up and say, Oh, there's these 30 other things or like, Hey, could you guys just talk about courts at like a more general level? I don't think we're alone in this, but I do think it's, it's more of a subset of people who are more focused on value price points and kind of what a watch can do for you, where you start to see more attention and care given to courts. And then of course, if you get into the forums, you've got the guys that are tracking their annual accuracy and, and all that kind of stuff. And of course that you can do that with an automatic or mechanical, it just makes less sense. Yeah. Typically. I mean, it's one thing to track. It's another thing to try and know how many seconds a year you might be up or down. Um, for, for us, I think it's pretty clear. Cause we talk about this a lot on the show is for us courts is grab and go.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	No fuss, no concern, no, Oh, I'm going to be on my bike. Is this going to rattle my, you know, 20 year old mechanical watch into little bits inside the case or none of those little concerns. And then I think in some ways, um, in my mind, I would include watches that are digital, but not quartz also as a quartz watch, although that's not accurate. So we probably won't dig into things like Garmin or some of the other smart watches because I don't think they're actually using a quartz regulator of any type. I think a lot of that's done in either network time or clock cycles with the processing and such. But in this world, for this one, we're just going to kind of stick to quartz specifically. And, and I think there's, there's like a lot, there's a lot out there, but the key is it's just like ultimate flexibility. And when they do it right, I think that there's still a lot of appeal for an enthusiast, especially a sports watch enthusiast.
James	Yeah. Yeah. I think also for, for me, you know, courts there's, there's definitely, I think the first thing that pops into people's minds when it comes to real watch enthusiasts, when they go for courts is the affordability of them, which is foremost, but also this notion of like, okay, this is oftentimes this becomes the beater. This is the watch that I, if I don't want to ruin my mechanical watch, I'll, I'll short on my quartz watch. But I think there's another level to it for me. And that is, you know, when you look at the evolution of watches, especially the kinds of watches that we gravitate towards, which are sports watches and watches really designed for specific purpose, whether it's diving or hiking or, or, you know, field watch or military watch, um, quartz really is the, the ultimate evolution of that. I mean, it meets the requirements more than a mechanical watch, which can be really susceptible to, to, to shock and things like that, as well as just the expense of, of repairing it. And yeah, to me, it's not just affordability and kind of beat ability. It's it's, you know, this is like proper gear. I mean, this is something that you, you can rely on and you can put on without even having to, to think about whether you're shoveling or camping or even diving.
Jason	And even not unlike in the world of mechanical watches, you know, quartz comes in a wide variety. If you spend $100, you're probably getting a Ronda or a Miota, like a citizen, uh, sub-brand, uh, quartz system. Uh, but other brands make their own, right? You get into Seiko's kinetic systems, you get into the, some of the solar stuff from a bunch of the brands, and then you get into like higher end, almost like a luxury quartz, like Grand Seiko, Breitling, these sorts of things. So there's, there is a nice kind of like range depending on what your goal is. If it's hyper accuracy, that's, that's one thing that you can kind of chase down. And there's some really interesting options out there. Um, if you just want like ultimate flexibility and subtlety and you know, 10 years of battery life, there's a watch there for you. You could even go eco drive where you never really do the battery thing. Yeah. Uh, so it courts is really obviously expanded since it, since it kind of showed up in the seventies and decimated the entire industry. Um, but it's now kind of found a healthy spot that, that kind of sits aside from general watch enthusiasm. But I don't think, I don't think that's fair to say that like you or I, or a lot of people listening can't be very enthusiastic about a quartz watch.
James	Yeah. And I wonder if kind of the uptick or, or the, the emergence in the past, you know, decade or so of, uh, of smart watches and these connected watches has, has spurred some renewed or new interest in quartz watches as almost a you know, uh, a collectible, uh, or, or not, if not collectible, at least an appreciate appreciable, uh, watch that, that you can actually appreciate for what it is rather than just like, okay, this is my secondary watch. This is the one that sits on my dresser for the weekends.
Jason	And in my mind, the brand that defines that is Casio. Yes. Yeah. They can make a watch that if you zoomed out enough, you it's literally just one unit of watch. It keeps the time. It has a couple tools. They even, you know, the modular system means that almost all of these watches, again, this is only within reason, a brand that has thousands of SKUs, but within the general scope, they all share a similar feature set, right? You get a time, maybe a second time zone, a chronograph, a timer, a calendar, a backlight. Maybe it has atomic radio synchronization, right? Yeah, yeah. But talk about a brand that's able to take that and by really leaning into the idea that there are people who are enthusiasts about these watches, and sure, maybe you start with a 5600, a standard black one, maybe one with the Atomic, but then you want one that's white or blue or red or connected to your favorite television show or your favorite shoe manufacturer. It goes in every direction. And I think they're such a special brand, Casio and G-Shock specifically within that. But Casio makes a ton of watches that I love that aren't G-Shocks strictly. The A500 World Timer, everyone should own one of those at some point for the $55 they cost. very flexible travel watch. They look kind of cool. You can get a gold one, you can get a silver one. They're really subtle. And they operate outside of this prestige cycle that has gotten really crazy in the last two or three years, right? Mm-hmm. Where everything is about an Instagram flex or being a watch that nobody else can get. And sure, some of the G-Shock stuff can be really tough to buy if they're very limited or they come out to specific markets. And then they have whole secondary markets built up just around various collectibles within the space. Largely, if you really want a G-Shock or an A500 or whatever, it could be an Oceanus, you could go up to an MRGs, like the higher end stuff, they're around. You could track them down and get them. And I think they're special and interesting, and it's a perspective on watches that doesn't really exist anywhere else. And it's absolutely hinged on the fact that quartz isn't necessarily that expensive, so they can put money into other elements, whether it's insane, samurai-derived finishing or radio timekeeping or other stuff like that, right?
James	Yeah. And I think what makes the quartz category so interesting is that you do get these just, you know, really gonzo looking wild, uh, G shocks on the one hand, digital radio timekeeping, the crazy finishes, the bulbous cases, et cetera. And then you get something like what you're wearing this, this very classic looking, you know, 1980s vintage or, or, or 1980s appearance of, of a, And just an analog three-hand watch that just ticks around and looks like a regular watch. And, um, you, you don't get that. I mean, I guess if you look at a mechanical watch space, you get something like an MB and F versus a Submariner. I mean, there's, there's a, there's a broad range, but I think when it comes to going from digital to analog, it's, there's just this huge spectrum and, and the common denominator is that run by a battery, you know?
Jason	Yeah, true. And there's all that great stuff in the middle. Yeah. Right. The, the anti-digi stuff is, it's a fascination of ours for a long time. Yeah. Talk about useful features and, and kind of a style that kind of aligns with even the Delta, uh, the limited Delta in between our two ages kind of really works for like whether it's, uh, Aqualands, like we'll get into, we'll get into some of our favorite examples. Yeah. And we'll talk about stuff that costs more than this, but there's so much to be had for under $500 in this space. And it doesn't have to be a Michael Kors or a Daniel Wellington. Like you can buy something interesting.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	that's like fun and distinctive that doesn't have to cost a fortune. It could be an interesting little G-Shock. It could be something else entirely, but there's a lot out there.
James	Yeah. I mean, you know, so we kind of briefly touched on Casio and, and kind of their line, which is okay. They do have some analog stuff, but they're largely known for the digital space. Right. You know, I guess, you know, you mentioned the analog digital and certainly Breitling is what comes to mind first and foremost. What is it do you think that appeals about an analog digital watch? You know, I, I just love them and they, and they, now they seem so antiquated. When I look at like, why would somebody buy an aerospace when you own a garment, for instance?
Jason	Yeah. I think there's something about them that feels almost like, um, like that fascination as a kid, when you get your first calculator, you know, it's grade five or whatever, 10, six, whenever, whenever does you start doing something that, that, you know, you're not expected to do longhand and you're like, Oh, this is my little computer. Yeah. And it only does a select set of functions, but like it's mine. It has a battery or maybe it's, I remember being obsessed with the fact that they were solar power when I was a kid. Like I just thought that was very cool. Um, and, and I think there's a little bit of that, that same sort of appeal exists in these. I love the idea that you have an analog time display that can be luminous and kind of passive. I glance at it and it doesn't have to do anything. It's, it's already doing its job. And then you have these more active uses. Um, and I've always enjoyed whether it be on, um, an Arnie, which is a Seiko, um, you know, recreation of a Seiko from the eighties. Um, but whether it be the Arnie or my aerospace or any of the ones I've tried, I really love the idea that you could have the flexibility where the added feature really doesn't get in the way of the time. So if you want to track how long your hike is, it's or run or whatever on an aerospace, it's a very subtle little display that shows you the time. And you almost only take note of that display when you need the feature, right? And I like that it's a two at once. If you've got a Casio, if you've got a G-Shock, if you've got a lot of digital watches and you're on the time and you want to see your chronograph, you've got to press a button. Whereas with the Arnie, with the Aerospace, you at least get two. I can see a home time zone and local immediately. And in two formats where you're never going to confuse the hands because one doesn't even use hands. It's functioned way before form. I don't know that most anti-digi watches are even close to being pretty. The aerospace is probably, in my mind, as close as they got. The aqualands are deeply cool, but they're not pretty. Same with an Arnie. But I love the idea that you're getting kind of the most minimal version of the digital thing and the most maximized version of the analog. And they put them together and you get this flexibility that's expansive rather than kind of siloed. And for me, they just work really well on wrist for everyday stuff, timing some food, checking a second time zone. making sure you know the date when you need it, but then your watch can easily be a pseudo no date if you just turn that display off or go to a different feature, right? I think alarms are kind of like a quietly, very handy thing to have, especially if you're starting to move into that mode where maybe you don't take your phone to bed anymore. That's a big movement. It seems, well, now you could have an alarm that could wake you up right on your wrist and you could do so without needing to, you know, see all the notifications on your phone or whatever.
James	Yeah. I think if you're someone who's used to wearing a mechanical watch, when you put on anything that's, digital or analog digital that has these extra features. It's like this little thrill when you discover and can practically use like a countdown timer or, or a wake up alarm. You know, you want to, you know, it's like the middle of the day, you're feeling a little groggy. You want to lie down for 20 minutes, you know, just take a nap. And it's like, Oh, my watch has this. I mean, yeah, you could do it on your phone, but sure. I don't know. It's just so cool. All this on your phone. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. But, but to do it on your watch and have it like beep on your wrist when it's time to wake up or, when the, you know, the T is done steeping or whatever it might be. It's, it's just this little thrill. You, you, you, you mentioned the, the Breitlings, the, the aerospace and, and I recall, um, years ago there was another option that used the same movement. I don't think it was thermal compensated, but the Neptune. No, no. So this is a Victorinox. This was a Swiss army. They made, Oh yeah, it was the same movement. Yeah. They made this chrono classic XLS MT for a while. And it was like 1200 bucks. I'm looking at an article actually did about it in for gear patrol way back when. I guess 2014 and it was actually quite a handsome watch. I think it was actually arguably more handsome than, than like an aerospace at the time. It was a little sleeker, a little dressier. But, uh, you know, if you can find one of those, I always kind of liked those. I remember looking at one of the, at a dealer, like probably a Macy's or something like that and thinking, you know, I was, I was pretty close to pulling the trigger. It was a, it was a really cool watch.
Jason	But, uh, yeah. And, and the, you know, the, the other, the other side, if you want to stick with Victorinox while we're here, cause I agree. I remember getting one of those in when I was way back with watch report, getting one of those in and it's the exact same movement. Cause I know people have, have poached movements off of the Victorinox line to go back to the, sure. So they use the same movement. I don't know if they use the same movement unilaterally across all of them, because obviously aerospace has changed in size. And if I remember correctly, and this is, we're talking the better part of 10 years ago, that Victorinox, the one that I borrowed, it was kind of like a gun metal case with like a white dial. I think it was 44 millimeters. And that just meant that the screens were actually a little bit more towards the center of the dial, a little bit better balance maybe than the natural balance of a 40 millimeter aerospace. But a really solid watch for sure. The other one that we've got to talk about if we're doing Victorinox and quartz is the Inox line. You don't hear a ton about it in the watch enthusiasm world, Because I think they're almost so capable that people see them as being a little bit boring. Right. Yeah. You can get them in bigger and smaller sizes. I think they start at 43 millimeters and kind of go up from there. They make a carbon version. And these are watches, if you don't know the Inox line, it's like they essentially went out to create an almost indestructible watch. There's 130, I think, tests that these things have to pass. And they list about 30 of them. The rest are proprietary, but they include like being able to be run over by an armored personnel carrier, being able to be thrown out of a third story window, surviving a certain amount of heat, like fire for a certain amount of time, damage, uh, bug spray on the strap, temperature bug spray. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. Really fascinating. And instead of trying to list it all, cause it would make the show another 20 minutes longer, I'll just this one that if you don't know the Inox stuff, check it out. They kind of have a loosely, I would say they're like almost like a more subtle, version of something between a Royal Oak and a Royal Oak Offshore. Obviously not made to that level, but you're going to pay less than a thousand dollars for a lot of these. So the whole line basically is the Inox, the Inox Carbon, the Inox Mechanical. So you can actually get a mechanical version that's outside the scope of this article. It passes a few less tests because it's mechanical, but they do make a mechanical one. Then they make a diver line and they make a titanium version as well. And so these start at 525 bucks. for what I think is a very handsome 43 millimeter steel watch with a rubber strap. Uh, if you want to go to the diver, you're up to six 50, they're 45 millimeters. They make, uh, the, uh, a few other versions, including the titanium is six 50 at, um, 43 millimeters and has, uh, like a three, six, nine Arabic marker. That one might be my favorite. The Inox titanium is a really handsome looking watch. And the lightness is really going to help make the 43 millimeter side, make more sense on most people's wrists. And then they do the mechanical, which you can also get with a bracelet if you're a real bracelet guy. And then the carbon ones come with like that woven paracord sort of strap.
James	Yeah. I gave one of those to my godson years ago when he was early twenties and, and I think he still wears it. I mean, he just, he loved that watch. I think he was, he was doing like construction work and he was wearing it and he just loved that watch. Perfect.
Jason	Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. These have like a, it's kind of like they, they, they pull from a few different things where there's, If you look at these carbon ones, they feel very Breitling, but I think, I think these are definitely worth people's consideration. If you want to get into courts, if you want to get, um, uh, a teenager in your life, their first watch and not worry about getting the call from their parents or, or from them to you, if you're their parents saying, oh, they broke that watch there. I'm not saying that's a cheap watch, but it is. I think you get what you pay for. Yeah. And I don't think you're going to get that phone call where the kid's like, Oh, I wore it for a week and then broke it when I was skateboarding or whatever. Right. They're not specifically gendered. I think it'd be amazing to see them kind of lean more towards a 40 or 38. Um, you know, a simple one in steel or titanium and who knows, maybe that's in the works, but I think this is a bit of a sleeper in, in the world. And if you're, if you're in the zone for, uh, a quartz, I think they're, they're worth taking a look at, especially if you want something like as tough as possible. Yeah.
James	Yeah. You know, another sleeper that I have to bring up and, and it's a little bit, it's kind of splits the difference between an Inox and a, and a CWC I would say. And that's the Elliot Brown. Um, Holton professional. So I've got a Holton, they called it like the Nevo. Um, it was kind of a variation of that, but the Holton professional was actually developed this, this company, Elliot Brown is a British brand and they're based in, in pool in Dorset, which is where the special boat service has their headquarters. And they're apparently they're in the same boat yard, their offices. And so they got together with the SBS, um, who, who wanted a watch to, to use and you know, whether or not they're actually issued for, for use in the field. I'm not sure, but they sent me one of these and I've worn it off off and on for, for several months. And it is a really tough, very good looking watch. I would say it's, it's kind of a, updated cwc it's kind of a more modern thing and they've really put a lot of thought into it the um it's very tough they they build in so it's a quartz watch so it's it's kind of already more shock resistant but then they actually put like a rubber movement holder around the movement to protect it from you know even further the the straps are fantastic the straps are held on by like a single screw bar that only screws in from one side so you don't have a hole on one lug you only have it on the other and it comes with a little tool which is a little annoying, like if you lost the tool and needed to change it, but it works really well. It's like a little Torx head screw that holds the straps in and they're super secure. The strap itself is a wonderful, really supple rubber, kind of like a sin style strap. Nice. And then the bezel has knurling on the side and kind of just on the top, almost like a bead around the top. So like if you almost just put your palm on the top of the watch and just twist your hand, it'll actually turn the bezel. uh that's nice the crown is at four o'clock and it's like kind of small because once you set it you don't really have to use the crown much so it really stays out of the way and you know this i call this a real sleeper watch just because you know a few people might have heard of the brand or might think you know i remember when i first heard of elliot brown i looked at some of their offerings and a lot of their other offerings are a little bit like they look a little anonymous or kind of fashion watch style but this one is I don't know. It's, it's really worth considering if you're kind of in the market and you want something like a CWC, but you want something a little more modern and right. And whatever. And, uh, yeah, I think it's definitely worth a look. I think if you want like a tough, like camping, diving, hiking, et cetera, watch, um, and maybe you're not into the Inox look or, or the CWC is a little too traditional looking. I think, um, something like the Elliott Brown would be, would definitely merit a look. And these are, you know, these are sub thousand dollar watches as well. So,
Jason	Yeah, the pricing seems very much in line, very realistic.
James	Yeah. And again, this is kind of in that same vein as a Marathon as well. That's another brand that makes kind of similar style. They make a handful. You know, kind of that style, that watch.
Jason	Yeah, they do the T-SAR, the M-SAR, the Navigator. These are some of these brands we're going to buzz through because we talk about them a fair bit. We talk about Marathon every few episodes, but they have a handful of quarts that are absolute. I've owned a T-SAR. Our frequent show collaborator, Cole Pennington, has written about the M-SAR. uh, I think the M SARS courts, right? Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. And then the JSAR and then the jumbo SAR and then, yeah, the big, the big Jason. Yeah. Um, you know, another one you mentioned Zen while you were talking about Elliot Brown, uh, people don't often realize that Zen still makes the UX, which is their courts dive watch. I forgot all about it. And it's, it's killer. I mean, it's great looking thing. It's kind of like a modified you. Um, it's, I think it's only a little bit bigger than a U 50, uh, and, and definitely worth considering again, all of these are going to be worth considering at some level, uh, while we jump around, but Zen doesn't have a ton of courts, but they do make the UX and the idea of a, of a quartz watch that's built to Zen's quality is very appealing to me. I like that a lot. Um, just to know that you've got something that tough. And again, it's, it's that concept and maybe, maybe it sounds like, or we say it too often. It doesn't mean that much, but it's that grab and go like, my other watches, you got to pick them up and wind them and be careful with the date. And maybe they're in a case. Maybe that case is locked away in a different part of my house. Cause I was away or it's, I've taken it some to a second location for security and I can just have a quartz watch around and it could be, it could be a $40 Casio. There's something really nice about just picking it up and putting it on and going, ha ha.
James	Yeah. Ready to go. Even like six months later, you know, like, like when we have the daylight savings change here and I like, I go to kind of set a bunch of watches and clocks ahead or back. And, you know, there's, you know, Ghoshani's 36 millimeter marathon, like in this little bowl under her sink in the bathroom or something. And it's like, I kind of pull it out and she doesn't wear it that often, but like I pull it out and it's like, it's dead on, you know, accurate. Maybe I have to change the date because it sat a couple of months, but it's still ticking away.
Jason	I love that. Yeah. Any, any on this list that we have here that you think are like, like things people may not know anything about, we talked about the Arnie I think there's a lot of Seiko and Grand Seiko, but I also think that people probably know. Yeah, true. Right. Right. Like Grand Seiko GMTs in quartz, that makes so much sense to me. Yeah. So the fastest route, so we don't have to sit here and list them. Reference numbers is the SBGN or SBGX lines use a very accurate quartz mechanism and offer a GMT. And it also means that they come in at the lower side of the Grand Seiko price range, which is pretty nice. Um, you know, there's the super quartz divers from a few years back where you could get, it was more like a 39 millimeter version of a SKX and it used a court. Oh, right. That was quite accurate. And they had a perpetual calendar in them as well. So those are rad. Um, they're worth way more money than they were. Even when we first started talking about them, I've wanted one for years. And then I kind of balked at the price three, four years ago, you know, people sell them for three, $400. And I was like, I don't know about that. Now, you know, if you can find an SKX double Oh seven, it's, 600 bucks or whatever. Um, and, and, and the same thing has kind of gone with the super courts. Those, that's a very cool thing. You know, recently we spoke about the SNA four 11 and that range, the flight master, uh, Saco's and those are still available and it can be found at decent price points. We already chatted on the Arnie. Um, the Ripley's pretty rad. Yeah, true. If you want, if you want like a big kind of cool watch from a different era. So that's the, I think the modern one is the S C E D O three five. based on the watch that Ripley wore in Aliens 2, or sorry, in Aliens, goodness. And then the other one I would bring up, and Jason, I don't know if you had any specifics for the Seiko, Grand Seiko thing, is for me, the sleeper is this, the SUN023, which is a big dive watch with GMT. I took one to Hawaii years ago. And so it's a kinetic, which I think we're going to say is quartz, all intents and purposes, or it falls within the world. Oh, I do like this one. Yeah. So this is a local jumping GMT. They're about, I think eight or 900 bucks tops. I think street price was less than that when I did the write-up. It's a big case, but it's this kind of curvy, beautiful kind of modern take on a tuna case that has actual lugs. And it's just sits really tight on your wrist. It's great for a vacation. The loom is crazy. There's a lot of like three dimensionality to the dial design. The minute markers are on these little columns and I really, really like this watch. It's worth, it's absolutely worth what they asked for it, especially if you've got the wrist, but then to have a, like a, a proper GMT function on that watch as well. And to know that it's kinetic and you just kind of, again, grab and go. I think that's a pretty appealing one that I don't see a ton of people talk about, which likely more about the size than the function or even that it's quartz.
James	Yeah. In fact, I'm looking at your, at your, a blog to watch review from 2015 on this one. And it's, I do remember this watch. This is a fantastic watch. And it, it, the case color case is so different because it's, it's like a tuna can, but it doesn't have the traditional shroud. It's like an integrated into the case.
Jason	As you know, if you listen to these all, I'll spend time and I'll, I'll make the 40 links or whatever, 50 links to, to show all these in the show notes. So you don't have to remember all of the, um, reference numbers as we go. Any, any other Seiko stand out for you, Jason?
James	Well, I mean, I remember I did the, the press trip to Japan and visited Seiko and grand Seiko. And I was so struck by the attention to detail and the sheer quality of the nine F, uh, quartz movements that they make and kind of the extra steps they take to make sure that there's no backlash with the second hand and the way that they, you know, kind of cultivate their own quartz crystals. Um, wild. And, and what struck me too is, is the decoration. And I think, you know, at the time I was like, I kind of want one, like they actually, I mean, who else would put a, you know, like a clear case back on a quartz watch so that you can see the movement. I mean, that that's just unheard of. And then when you look at the decoration that they do, even on the quartz movement, it's really special. It's, it's really, um, really something to, to consider. And I think it, it's a good segue into kind of a point that I wanted to make about, there's something really cool about when a higher end manufacturer, uh, or watch brand makes a good quartz watch because it's becoming so much more rare nowadays. And I think, you know, when you talk quartz, as we've mentioned at the top here, it's all about affordability and a beater, but then you get something like a grand Seiko quartz and you appreciate it for different reasons and at a different level. And I think we've got a couple of other brands on here that, that do make quartz watches that you might not expect would make them or that you might not even consider buying. Like, like you added, and I totally forgot about these, the Longines that, you know, they've got the Conquest line. This is the sleeper. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason	Tell us about that. Yeah. Longines makes a ring, a wing of the conquest line called the VHP, very high precision. And it's five seconds a year. Wow. Um, and the coolest one, in my opinion, if you're, if you're going to spend the money, go for the GMT because it has an app set GMT. So you don't take the watch off when you get to the airport, when you land or anything, you open your phone, you say where you are in the hands update. There's no digital display. It's a very like, I would call this like a businessy sort of watch. You could wear this with a suit. Yeah. It's simple. It's straightforward. And it has this killer movement. And if you're a quartz head, there's a good chance that you might be an accuracy nerd as well. And I say both of those terms with like absolute respect. Yeah. One of my favorite, I don't have this bug. It's not my, I don't have this wiring in my brain where I'm so concerned about the high accuracy, but I know some people who are, and I have enjoyed going on those forums on watch you seek and seeing the spreadsheets that people build to track their annual accuracy of various movements and the high accuracy courts thing. is almost like a separate world of courts. And I think that the Longines dips into it in a way that I think is pretty compelling. And it's from a line that, if I'm honest, I'm not that wild about. Yeah. Like I don't love the Conquest dive watches. They feel a little bit maybe over-designed. Yeah. And I just feel like they never really landed on the go-to version. This is kind of the same thing I would say about the Aquaracer these days, is there's not one skew where you go like, well, that's the one to have.
James	Yeah. So I'm looking at this VHP GMT and did you know, I mean, not only is it a GMT, but it says here that it's a perpetual calendar. I mean, this is a incredible, this is a $1,300 watch and it's 41 millimeters, you know, launching predictably high quality. Yep.
Jason	Nice looking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like the silver dial with the reddish orange accents. I think this is a very handsome watch that people don't talk about. And like you said, Jason, 41 millimeters, 12 and a half millimeters thick. It also comes in... Oh, you know what? The blue on the rubber strap, that's a good looking watch too. And you get a bracelet. Longines does nice bracelets. We don't talk a ton about Longines because their sport watches typically aren't their sweetest part. But I really like these watches. I think this would be a super wearable watch. This would be a really smart watch for someone who has to travel and maybe has a collection of vintage watches that you're not going to necessarily take out of country or whatever, or on long trips because, you know, this isn't going to clash with an outfit or, or a dress code. Um, and then you get these, the, the, the, the performance points of such a watch are really just very impressive. Yeah. Right.
James	Cool stuff. Yeah, it is cool stuff. Um, geez, I mean then even staying within this watch group, you've got, you know, to, so you've got Hamilton, um, I mean to, so the PRX stuff is, it's been really bewitching. I mean, I look at that stuff kind of every time a, a wrist shot pops up on Instagram or I see one for sale or something. I'm like, that's, that's really sharp. And it's totally not my kind of typical style, but that's, that's a great one. That'd be a fun grab and go just sort of every once in a while watch.
Jason	Yeah. And I mean that watch is never going to fit. It's just like sleek and nice looking, you know, it plays into the world of the Royal Oaks and the, and the, the 57 11s and the overseas, but obviously at a four, I think they're 400 bucks or $500 for the courts one. Yeah. And, and that's one of those ones where, I don't know that I would spend the extra money to get the Powermatic. Right. I think it might be... It says less on the dial with quartz. Yeah, yeah. I like the look of the quartz. I like the idea of quartz for a watch like that, because that could be your grab and go. Let's say for sport, you use a Phoenix or whatever, but you still want something that's kind of grab and go, and you've got to quickly run out to a meeting or to a coffee shop. That watch is always gonna look good. Yeah, right. I hope that they do a gold plated version at some point and make it really fun. And then if you do gold plated in quartz, it's like the stakes are so low. You didn't spend a fortune, but you can kind of play your hand in the, in the court, in the gold world as well, which is fun. Yeah. Yeah. And then of course the T touch that's been around for years, I've owned two of them and found them kind of difficult to get to really master the UI. Yeah. But they certainly work and, and they've changed, they've kind of massaged what the sizing is and the thickness and the rest. I think it's compelling if, if you look at it and then that kind of entertains you. But in a similar fashion, I've... For Omega, I listed the X33 and I've had two of the mod of the Skywalker series X33s, the yacht one and the standard one. Yeah. I didn't own them, I borrowed them. Yeah. One of the few times where not only did I have to find the user's manual, I had to read like almost every page. A really esoteric format for controlling the watch. I don't think it's bad. It's just when you're so used to what I would call the G-Shock format, four buttons, one of them cycles through modes, and then you get a watch that has the buttons and you can't figure out how to get to the modes or even change the time. And then you're downloading a very large PDF, even bigger for the incredible... I really like that Yacht Timer one. Beautiful watch and amazingly loud. And this is kind of back to the original design brief for the X series. So you get a crazy loud alarm. The idea was, I think originally it had to be loud enough to be heard in a helicopter. Oh, really, really cool watches. Expensive. You know, one of the more expensive watches on the list entirely. But goodness sakes, like the, even the earlier ones, the ones that were meant for the Mars mission with the radial digital display, those are really cool. Yeah. You know, it's just, it makes them, that's one I would love to have owned at one point. I'm sure they've, they've spiked as well. It's a, it's a Speedmaster, right? So, Uh, you know, you're going to, you're going to pay something for it, but I like the history of that and the idea that they designed a watch for a Mars mission and, you know, following the brand's longstanding history, working with NASA and, uh, yeah, no, uh, really, really rad things for sure. Have you had any chance to play with any of those?
James	I never have. I've never even, I don't think I've even handled one. Um, but I love the fact that Omega makes that alongside all of their prestigious coaxial speedmaster, et cetera, et cetera, stuff. It's, it's really cool that that's still in their collection.
Jason	Yeah. And you can also go the opposite direction. You don't have to go sporty to appreciate quartz. And in some ways, maybe quartz makes sense for the dress watch that you wear to the office every day, if that's the way that you operate. Yeah. And in that case, then you've got Cartier, right? You can get Tank Musts and other tanks and quartz. A lot of their line is available in some metric and quartz. And then last year they announced... And I think I've started seeing deliveries. So they are selling them the Solar Beat. So now you have a solar tank Oh yeah. Which is just a very subtle kind of smart idea. Um, for me, if I was going to get a tank, I'd want a gold one, which probably I would rather it be hand wound. Um, and, and I think for me, like in my world, a dress watch is the thing I barely wear. So I wouldn't mind the little ritual of winding it and setting the time as much as I might for more of an everyday sort of watch. But if your everyday is a dress watch Cartier, uh, youngins makes a max bill courts, which is a very handsome watch. And that, that watch makes a lot of sense in courts.
James	Yeah, I do. I think, yeah, I guess you could go both ways with, with a dress watch. I mean, for me, you know, I so seldom wear dress watches that the thought of picking up just one that's always accurate and you just put it on is appealing as well. But as you said, I mean, a little hand wound Cartier or something like that also, also is appealing. I think something that kind of splits the difference, like, like you mentioned the PRX where it's sort of dressy, but sort of sporty and you know, you might not be wearing it to dive hike, cut the grass, et cetera. Um, but you know, you're wearing it fairly regularly. That's, that's kind of the sweet spot for me. Yeah. And I think also, you know, you can, you know, we talk a lot here about the currently available modern quartz watches. And I think there's this other area that, you know, given when quartz saw its rise and sort of heyday back in the eighties and nineties, you know, looking back and especially like on eBay or some of the forums, like you can find some great, uh, quote unquote, I don't know if you could even call them vintage, quartz watches nowadays, but you know, that's where arguably all of this started and that kind of a lot of it refers back to. And, and the one that we haven't really even talked about, although I think you mentioned it briefly was the Aqualand, which is one that I had, you know, from the mid eighties, I still have it. And I love that watch. Um, but also some of those, um, those Kronosport UDTs that, that they made a bright version of it. I love those. They had like the Navitimer Plutons, um, that were kind of the same piece. I mean, these are cool. Pluton, that's what I was thinking of earlier when I said Neptune. Yeah. I think there was a Neptune version, I think, but someone, some collector will correct us. But, uh, yeah, I mean, you looking back at that stuff from, from that era, um, you can still find, although the Aqualands are getting a little harder to find now, but, uh, yeah, pick up one of those UDTs because it actually uses the same or very similar case to that CWC that you're wearing. But you get this analog digital, you know, display, um, with some kind of cool pedigree. I think, uh, I think Rambo wore one in, in one of those movies. And then of course, uh, rumor has it the U S special forces, uh, dive team, you know, the seals or whatever were, were issued, those are wearing them at one point as well. So there's, there's some provenance to it, but, uh, yeah, find one of those, if you can, those are super cool.
Jason	Yeah. And I, the other one I would say with the same caveat, find one, if you can, is a dive watch I owned years ago. this would have been during the watch report era. This is the citizen air diver. It's a PMX 56, 28, 11, maybe. Wow. I think it's a 28, 11. They made a 28, 12 as well. And this is a, like a, a pretty, pretty interesting watch that I think like was genuinely in my world was an absolute sleeper. I remember I had to spend a decent amount of money to get it. It's a 41 millimeter super titanium with a bracelet. It's a monoblock case. so there's no case back that can be removed. Everything goes through the dial if you have to get it serviced. It's a dive watch, so it does 200 meters water resistance, has 20 millimeter lugs, has a mineral crystal, has a ratcheting bracelet extension on the titanium bracelet, 48 millimeters lug to lug. It's just an absolute little tank of a watch made by Citizen, so it's from the Promaster line. I really, really like these. It was hard to track down at the time. They make another version. So this is the one I'm talking about specifically is the PMX 56-2811. And they make a 2812 that has a different dial layout and it's kind of blue red, but talk about like a subtle modern sort of military derived style that really seemed to work for citizen and for the eco drive settings and the courtsness of it all. Good loom. I don't know what possessed me to sell this. My guess is I had no money at the time and I probably needed to sell this to buy the next watch I was gonna write about. Yeah. Which is... I did that a lot when I was doing all the stuff for Watch Report. So I would buy something, have a couple of weeks with it and then go, oh crap, I need $500 to buy something for my next story. Yeah, I think this is a real sleeper. And again, if you can track one down, this is probably something that you're gonna have to find via eBay or something like that, but a really cool watch.
James	That is cool. And, and I was, I was going to ask how you changed the battery, but it's an eco drive. Um, so it's great for a monoblock case. That really makes a lot of sense.
Jason	Yeah. I mean, I guess if you wore it religiously for 10 years, you could, you might need a new capacitor, but citizen will, we'll do that for you.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	Awesome. Not, not, not necessarily big stretches. Any watch that you can get 10 years out of, you can, you can probably feel okay. Servicing. Yeah. Do we miss anything? I'm sure we did. The other one, of course, that I've talked about a lot, I've written about it. One of my favorite quartz watches on the market today is the Brew Metric. Oh, yeah. You can go back and hear about it on previous episodes. I'll link my hands on for Hodinkee. I love that watch. It uses a Mecca quartz movement, so you kind of get some of the feel of a quartz chronograph. But this is one of those things where what I want from Brew is the attention to detail and the design acumen.
Unknown	Mm-hmm.
Jason	and a certain level of quality, which they always hit and the rest, I just don't care. So this quartz just means this watch comes in at less than 500 bucks.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	And, and let the results speak for itself. They just sell out. Right. And he's producing them in batches. Uh, so that's something to watch. They just announced, I think two new color ways, uh, for it. I had kind of the black on candy one, Jason, you had a, the silver blue one, if I remember correctly, and now they have a couple more. So that's one that I really like, but we've, you know, that's another one that I only quickly put on the list. Cause we have talked about it quite a bit.
James	Yeah, I love this. And I love, um, what, one thing I like about this one that I dislike about a lot of, uh, kind of micro brands that use this Mecca courts movement is the, the, the 24 hour display that typically is shown with that movement is by and large kind of useless because it can't be used as a second time zone. It's synced with the regular time. Um, so I always feel like, why is there even that, that 24 hour sub dial? I mean, unless you're trying to figure out if it's day or night, which is a little silly. Um, he actually eliminates that. And I think it's for the better. I think it looks great in this watch. But it brings to mind the fact that I would love to see, you know, so many micro brands, they want to be automatics, you know, they want to be mechanical watches for some level of prestige or appeal. I would love to see more micro brands go with, with quartz, like really interesting, good looking, like well-designed quartz watches. I think it would be, it would hit the right price point, um, and be very usable. And I think a lot of kind of watch enthusiasts want to kind of stay in the higher end mechanical space, but then, they would be drawn to something like a micro brand if they knew it was going to be like a weekend thing, like a dive watch or something.
Jason	I think it's something where brands need to be very specific in the way they consider quartz, especially if they're a luxury brand. Let's see what else we got. Oh, I mean, you really can't sleep on Hamilton. It's another brand where quartz makes up their kind of entry level range, but a quote unquote entry level khaki quartz is like one of my favorite watches they make. A field watch with quartz makes perfect sense to me in terms of usability and flexibility of use and expectations from all sides, nicely priced. And then if you want something different, they have that sort of like 70s style, it's called the PSR, where it has the digital display. Not really my aesthetic, that look, but it is a very popular aesthetic among a certain kind of field of watch enthusiasm. So definitely worth knowing that it's out there. What else might we have forgotten? Oh, Timex, right? Yeah.
James	I mean, all these Q, these like These Q quartz watches are my favorites. I think they're just nailing it these days. There's so many good ones.
Jason	Yeah. And there's that Q, the LCD Q that are reissue with the kind of more complicated digital display. Yeah. And then, Hey, my, my, for my introduction to watches in the first place, they still make, and they make a great job. Like you don't have to spend a ton of money to get an iron man. And it does all the stuff that a G-Shock does or a, or an aerospace really like very similar function set, just a different sort of layout. And I kind of think in terms of what they look like on wrist, they're kind of coming back around. They did those really kind of fun colorways, um, based on like North face jackets with a distributor out of Japan. Oh yeah. I can link to that. I had a green yellow one, which was based for the forest service and like a white one that had a link to something else. I don't remember what it was. Yeah. Uh, those are really fun. I, you know, I'll always love an Ironman. Uh, just they're just wearable and cool. And I liked the layout of the buttons and the rest of it. Um, Oh, if you want to have, if you want to have fun for money, I didn't put this on the list, but I just remembered it because I have one in a drawer next to me here. If you want to have just fun for money, an entry level Casio databank, the calculator watch. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's pretty fun. I think I paid $32 for the one that I wrote about. The only, if I could say it has one problem, it's that the entry level one, which has the aesthetic I like and it weighs nothing, doesn't have a backlight. And if I have a digital watch with no backlight, I feel like we've really lost the plot.
James	Yeah, true. That's like mandatory, I think. Yeah.
Jason	That's part of the fun, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I like that. But for me, I'd love a backlight. It's one of the reasons I still own digital watches. Yeah. It's something that's one of those five-year-old charms, like things that delighted me when I was five and they still know that I'm 35. Yeah. Uh, I just, I love it. Um, uh, having a backlight, being able to click the button or then I remember the first time I had a watch where it had the auto EL where if you turned your wrist and come on, I was cutting edge tech, man. That was so good. I was living in the future.
James	I think, you know, at the beginning you mentioned, you know, we're kind of adding Garmin as an honorable mention or watches of that ilk because, um, they're technically not, you know, courts, they're, they're battery powered and they do have some digital functionality to them, but they're, they're probably not courts timekeeping. But I do think, you know, the watches that we've talked about up to now have been, it's, it's almost like if you, if you're looking at something like a Garmin at this very functional end of the spectrum, you buy it for function. Um, I don't think you'd necessarily go out and buy a Garmin for the charm or the look. Some of them are very good looking. I do like the look of the Phoenix. You, you, you kind of back down the spectrum just a tick or two, and then you get to something like, you know, an Ironman or a G-Shock or something like that. I think you, you, you then appreciate it for something beyond the functionality. Yeah, no, I don't, I don't disagree at all. Well, I mean, you know, you have on the list here clocks and I hadn't thought about talking about that, you know, there, there, um, there are some fun quartz clocks you can get. I have an old one that was given to me as a gift from one of my first jobs that was made by Braun. It's, it's this folding travel clock. It's, it's kind of the classic, everybody probably knows what it looks like, but it's, it's that very Teutonic, very functional design with two colored buttons on top and, and the front just kind of opens up and it has this really quaint little map of the world with all the time zones hashed out on it. But, uh, I I've just got it sitting on my side table and I'm starting to think, you know, I should start taking it traveling or put it up next to the bed because it's got a little backlight. It's got an alarm. It just, it's starting to be a proper kind of classic in its own right.
Jason	Yeah. So, and then on my side, I have two Seiko desk clocks. One that I think, well, we talked about both over the history of the show for sure, but recently I got that Seiko, like I think it's called a marathon timer. Oh yeah. It's just meant to look like one of those running clocks at a stadium, but it's, I don't know what, maybe four inches wide and inch and a half tall, has a backlit display when you press the button. I like this. It's bright yellow. I actually have it sitting on pegs on that Ikea pegboard.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	Instead of using the little stand that it came with, And then the other one I have, and I know we talked about this way back in the day, early episodes, but it's a, um, this is another prompt from my friend, Paul, who we've talked about recently, always sending me good links and things to spend, you know, 50 bucks on or something like that. And, uh, this is a, a, a lounge clock made by Seiko for, if I have this correctly for Boeing pilots in Japanese airports. So it's, um, it's a wooden rectangle with a big world timer clock on it.
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason	And then it has the shape of the back of the clock where the batteries and such go actually leans it. So it's meant to sit on a table and kind of be viewable. And I have it kind of sitting up on one edge, more like a picture frame. But this is a little bit difficult to explain. You kind of either know this clock or you don't, but I'll put it in the show notes. I think I paid $25 for this back in the day. So I'm sure it's gone up like everything. Sure. Maybe it's a hundred dollars. I don't know. I'll find a link and then we'll know what the damage is. But if you're if you wanna do the clock thing or if you wanna do the quartz thing and you have no interest in wearing a quartz watch, a clock might be a fun way to kind of dip your hand into something. And then if you're sitting at your desk, obviously computers tell us the time all the time, but I like having the Seiko one because it's very accurate. So I set my watches based on that one. Oh yeah. But yeah, so I like having these kinds of things here and I like the low risk kind of eBay purchases and sometimes that's gonna be a clock. It can't always be a watch, right?
James	Right. Yeah. Yeah, good. I mean, we look there, we scratched the surface.
Jason	I mean, there's so much, almost everything. There's so much.
James	Yeah. Right. But you know, we, we did a quartz episode ages and ages ago, years ago. Um, but people have been asking for another one. So here we go. And I'm sure, you know, who knows, probably in another year or two, maybe we'll, we'll revisit or we'll get so many comments to this episode with, with ideas that we can, we can revisit in the future. Maybe even sooner.
Jason	It's quartz is great. We're big fans, definitely no shade or snobbery. I think a watch is a watch, and if you love having it on your wrist, that's the point of the watch these days. A lot of their functionality has been overlapped by other things, right?
Unknown	Mm-hmm.
Jason	So you wear what you like and buy what you like. We do kind of worry that sometimes people get into this at a hobby level, at an enthusiast level, and they go immediately to major publications, some of which we work for, that kind of talk about the same 40 or 50 watches. as icons and historical this and that, and that's good and everybody should know that, but there is also a time and place for the equivalent of a 10 year old Jeep Wrangler for your wrist, right? And that's where Quartz kind of fits for me. I love knowing about Patek Philippe's and such, but I also just really like the simple kind of fuss free nature of a watch you could pick up, put on and go outside, go for an adventure and not really worry about, not worry about my kids are swimming this afternoon. I have to jump in the pool and help them. Am I going to destroy my vintage, whatever, right? Like, it's just nice to be able to remove all that. Yeah. But look, like Jason said, we definitely only scratched the surface. Quartz is, it's Legion. So let us know in the comments, if there's something, if there's a real sweet spot, especially from one of the brands we mentioned, but if not, if you just think there's like, this for me is why Quartz is special. That's what we want to know. Throw it in the comments. Let us know. We'd love to be part of that conversation. If you're not into the comments, you don't know what we're talking about, sign up for Substack, visit thegranado.com and you'll see every episode has a comments listing. Uh, there's a solid crew of people that are in there after every episode. And Jason and I read all the comments and really enjoy it. Answer questions when needed, of course. Uh, but yeah, that that's courts. And I think that's, that's, yeah, that's our 2022 update. And if there's something more specific that you'd like covered from a court standpoint, let us know in the comments and we'll see if we can add it to the episode list for the next few months.
James	Yeah. All right. Some final notes. Time for final notes. Yeah. Um, mine is, uh, it's very much the antithesis of what we all, we just spent the past hour talking about because it's, uh, And I I'm sure that most of our listeners already know about this because I checked in this guy on YouTube has a lot of followers, but I've recently become hooked on wristwatch revival on YouTube. And this is a guy named Marshall who's, I'm not sure if he's self-trained, but he's a watchmaker who likes to buy kind of old questionable, um, sometimes not running vintage pieces on, on eBay and then restore them. And he films them and he, these are fairly long, videos, well edited, just it's, it's not him talking. It's just closeups of the watch that he's working on and he's got a very pleasant delivery. All of his cases are very interesting. It's a lot of kind of old Omegas, some old Rolexes and you know, old military watches and pocket watches, stuff that people will send him and he just rebuilds them and you can just watch them and all of the, all of the different weird little things that pop up as he's doing it, you know, like, kludges that some previous owner had done to kind of make something work or seal the case shut or something. Um, um, kind of the, some of the problematic areas with, with mechanical watches and what can prevent them from running properly. And then he'll, he'll clean them up and put them back together. And there's something just almost mesmerizing or addictive to like, you know, even if you're doing something else or you're just kind of half asleep in the morning or in the evening and you just want like, want to kind of chill out and watch something. I think it's kind of fun to just watch him methodically rebuild these. And then at the end, It's it's like this rebirth and you see like this old Omega Constellation Pi-Pan dial that was just trashed you know come out looking just just stunning. It's really inspiring it's kind of fun like you were talking in a previous episode about you know maybe trying your hand at a little bit of light watchmaking and I think this is really inspirational in that regard to kind of just watch and see what what can be done and it's uh it's really cool. So check it out this is Wristwatch Revival on YouTube and like I said I'm sure A lot of our listeners already know about this. And, uh, and I think a listener actually told us about this a long time ago too. So apologies if I've forgotten that, but, uh, yeah, check it out.
Jason	Yeah. I I'm thrilled because I didn't know about this. So now I have a new one and I'm looking at the most popular. He's got 200,000 subscribers. We've got several videos with well over a million views. Yeah. Crazy. So they must be fantastic. Yeah. So I'm, I'm very excited. I've, I've been a little light on kind of like chill YouTube stuff to watch when I'm winding down. Yeah. And I think this is perfect. Occasionally I get into these rabbit holes on what's it called? Like the Instagram thing, but it's videos, not stories. Reels. Reels. Yeah. I get stuck in a reel where it's showing me somebody rebuild like a watch that looked like it had lived in the bottom of an aquarium for six months. Yeah. And I do really enjoy that. And those are only a minute or too long. And half the time I'm like, Oh, a little bit of commentary would go a long way. So I think this is going to be sick. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. Killer. What's up? What's with you? So mine's a little bit of a shameless plug for a podcast episode that I was a guest on. And that's another one of my brother's podcasts. It's the single-serving cinema. So he and his friend, Tay, do a show. If you haven't caught one, we've talked about in the past, they do a podcast where they look at one scene from a movie and kind of dissect the scene and talk about why it's special and why it's effective, et cetera. And every 10 episodes, they do something called a potluck where they have, so far me, come on and everybody brings a scene from the same movie. So for episode 10, they did Blade Runner 2049. We had a really good time. And then just last week, we recorded episode 20 of Single Serving Cinema, and that's going to be for Sicario. And I had a blast. I had an excuse to watch Sicario like three or four more times and just really enjoyed it. And it's always a treat to be on, but I didn't want to miss my chance because the timing kind of works out. The episode will be out, I think, for two days when this comes out. If you're not subscribed, swing by and check it out. Otherwise, of course, the link to the show is in the show notes, but it was a real treat to be back on the show. And it's always fun to, you know, kind of record something that, that isn't just about say watches or adventure or travel or that sort of thing. A little bit, a little bit from a, from a different part of my brain.
James	Yeah. I think that's healthy. I think that's cool. And I, I haven't seen Sicario in a long time. I might have to check this out and then go watch the movie or maybe vice versa. But yeah, your brother's great. I love that. There are people, yourself included, that just love to go deep on film because I think it's, it's, it is one of those areas where I can, you can be both a civilian, so to speak, and, and kind of enjoy it from just like a, you know, casual viewer perspective. But like, it allows you to just, everybody's got their opinion and you can just go deep on it without having to be some kind of an expert. And I think that's, I think that's fun.
Jason	So yeah, I think, and you'll, if you didn't get this from the Blade Runner performance, from my performance on Blade Runner, like Tim and Tay are, are like academics when it comes to film. They really, really enjoy researching and understanding and seeing the connective tissue between all of it. I just really like certain movies way too much. And that includes Blade Runner and Sicario, you know, same director, same cinematographer for the two films. And, you know, we've talked a lot about Taylor Sheridan, who wrote the script for Sicario, but also, I mean, five film club recommendations at this point or four. Yeah. Uh, you know, so it's, it's just a movie that's deeply in my wheelhouse and, and definitely not coming at it as an academic or any sort of an expert, but simply somebody who appreciated it and maybe saw a few things that I enjoyed and wanted to chit chat about. So we had a good time. Uh, and that'll be in the show notes for sure. Awesome.
James	All right. Well, that's a wrap on our courts episode. Um, certainly we're, we welcome all sorts of, uh, comments and feedback and suggestions in our show notes, and you can get to those, uh, for each episode or consider even supporting the show directly. And you can pick up a new TGN signed NATO all by visiting TheGreyNATO.com. And we thank everybody for listening. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason	And we leave you with this quote from Henry Luce. I think that's how you say his last name. He's the founder of Life Magazine. And he said, to see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.